Michigan State basketball score: Jeremy Fears Jr. posted his third double-double of the season as the Spartans turned a 2-point game into a rout.
EAST LANSING — Perhaps it was a holiday hangover, but Jeremy Fears Jr. pulled Michigan State basketball out of its doldrums with his most Mateen Cleaves-like moment yet.
Fears woke up the Spartans by taking an inbounds pass nearly the length of the court, beating the halftime horn and dropping in a layup to give MSU a two-point lead – in a game against Cornell they were surprisingly struggling to control.
Out of halftime, No. 9 MSU tightened up its leaky first-half defense to open with a 17-7 burst over the first five minutes out of the break and blitzed the Big Red en route to a 114-97 victory
Fears finished with a career high 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting (including three 3-pointers), along with 11 assists. Coen Carr added 19 points and six rebounds, while Trey Fort scored 14, Divine Ugochukwu 12 and Kur Teng 10. Jaxon Kohler extended his string of double-doubles to four games with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, MSU (12-1) led by as many as 26 in the second period and closed its nonconference portion of the schedule by holding deep-shooting Cornell (6-6) to just 9-for-28 from 3-point range after half.
The Spartans outscored the Big Red, 59-44, in the second half, reaching 100 points in regulation for the first time since scoring 109 against Oakland on Dec. 13, 2020. The last time MSU hit the century mark at all came in a 112-106 overtime loss at Iowa on Feb. 25, 2023. The 114 points were the most for the program since a 118-60 win over Alcorn State on Dec. 13, 2008.
Connor Noard had 19 points as one of five players in double figures for the Big Red, who shot 45.7% for the game. MSU outrebounded Cornell in the second half, 28-15, after trailing by a board at halftime.
Fierce fight
Cornell entered with the nation’s best 3-point shooting team at 14.3 makes per game and fifth-best deep-shooting team (41.6%). But for a half, it was the toughness of coach Jon Jaques’ squad that staggered the Spartans.
It looked more like the Big Red came from playgrounds of the Big Apple instead of the hallowed halls of a prestigious Ivy League school in upstate New York with the way they attacked MSU off the dribble and scrapped on the boards. Cornell asserted its physicality in positional rebounding and with a variety of defenses, building a stunning 15-4 lead less than four minutes into the game on a 3-pointer from senior guard Adam Hinton.
With MSU trailing 28-19, Trey Fort’s 3-pointer began a slow climb back, and the Spartans cut it to one on Jesse McCulloch’s 3-pointer a little over 2½ minutes later. They took their first lead of the game on Teng’s 3 with 5:46 to go in the half.
But Cornell kept it going back and forth by boxing MSU out underneath and getting scores inside and out. The Big Red had an 18-17 halftime rebounding edge, evened-up the Spartans on the offensive glass (5-5) and matched them from deep (both 6-for-16 from 3-point range).
The two also were knotted with 22 points in the paint until the final horn. That’s because with 3.5 seconds left, Fears took an inbound pass on the run from Jordan Scott, dribbled the length of the floor with long strides and lofted a layup through contact that gave the Spartans a 55-53 lead and momentum.
Blowout time
After the break, the emphasis clearly was on MSU’s defense improving after allowing Cornell to shoot 51.5% in the opening half.
Carr was the early benefactor, scoring the first four points followed by a Kohler 3-pointer that turned the tide. Scott hit another 3 off a lookaway pass from Fears, then Fears again knifed full-court through the Big Red defense and finished with a look-off layup that forced a timeout. MSU led by nine and kept pouring it on from there, with a Fort 3-pointer extending it to double digits moments later and the Spartans going 18-for-29 at the free-throw line in the second half as the foul trouble and energy began to deplete Cornell’s moxie. MSU scored 11 of 13 points on free throws to take the lead to 22 on Carr’s two with 9:28 to play.
The Spartans finished 7-for-12 from 3-point range in the second half and 13-of-28 (46.4%) for the game.
Next up for the Spartans
The Spartans return to the road to resume Big Ten play Friday at No. 13 Nebraska (9 p.m., Peacock). MSU is off to a 2-0 league start after blasting Iowa, 71-52, on Dec. 2 at home and holding off Penn State on the road, 76-72, on Dec. 13. The Cornhuskers and sixth-year coach Fred Hoiberg are off to a 12-0 start heading into Tuesday night’s game against New Hampshire at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. They won their two December games over Wisconsin (90-60) and at Illinois (83-80). The Spartans lost their last visit to Nebraska, 77-70, on Dec. 10, 2023, but otherwise have won 12 of the last 13 meetings between the two programs going back to the 2016-17 season.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball crushes Cornell, 114-97
Category: General Sports
